Where did you start?

The first thing we did was decide on a general season/month we wanted to get married in, and then we started to research and tour venues. Once we found the venue we wanted, we just picked a date they had available in the month we wanted! After booking the venue, we started to research, interview, and book all of our other large vendors.

Hhaha your not doing anything wrong! We waited like a week then started planning. The first thing we did was pick a date then we researched venues we liked and toured them. Once we had that I started to think about colors and themes and what not. After that we started looking into all the other vendors and I got my dress. We then took a break for a few months and then I started DIYing decor. We have a three year engagement and get married June 6 2020. Congrats and good luck!

The first thing we did was pick a general time of when we wanted to get married. We choose end of summer, beginning of fall. We then toured the venues we were interested in. Picked the official date from what they had available. Before we started touring I had a general idea of what colors I wanted and preferred.

People are going to ask you questions upon questions. You have to do things in a time that is right for you and your future spouse. In my opinion, you do not have a date until you have a venue. First, I would consider what season and year you would like to get married. Next, I would take a look at your finances and see what you can afford to spend/save for a wedding. Then I would browse some venues.

The first thing we did was discuss budget, guest count & time of year. Kind of what our overall vision was. After we figured out those 3, we toured venues. Congratulations!

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Oh! That's a good start! Thank you so much.

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I like this step by step plan. Thank you so much for this!

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This is a good idea. Thank you so much!

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Thank you so much! And yea we very briefly discussed guest count but that is a good idea to start with a budget. Thank you!

CONGRATS! You are doing it right. Step 1: ENJOY YOUR ENGAGEMENT!!! FH proposed the week between me being in Costa Rica for a friends wedding and a 7 day cruise with his family. We decided not to start looking at anything until we got back in April (2018) and life moved back toward normal.

Then we discussed guest count and budget. We both kind of wanted a smaller affair but being the only girl for 3 generations meant a big wedding was kind of expected. We also talked to our parents to see what they would be willing to contribute. We were lucky and between them we will have to pay very little, but again, they are also the ones that wanted that big expensive wedding.

Once we had general idea of how many people we would invite (asked both parents for a ballpark number plus our ballparks) and how much we could spend, we started researching venues in that price range and head count. We talked about dates that we might like (like the day we met etc.) but all those dates fell mid week so we picked September in general. We arranged to tour the venues and asked both parents to come since we all have a very good relationship with each other (only his could so I reported back to my parents after). We narrowed our choices down ( I think we saw 5 places over 2 weekends) and finally picked one.

Venue was more important to us than date so we discussed what was available and ended up having to push it out to November since they were booked full through the first week of November 2019 (again, this was April 2018) so if date is important I wouldn't waste any time on making a decision.

Once you have that set, everything else becomes a bit easier. You need a date before you can book any other vendors.

Also, start thinking about your bridal party. I knew my girls would want to be very involved the whole way so I wanted to ask them ASAP. Not everyone will want to be so involved though, so make sure to curb your expectations

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Wow! I love this! Thank you much! This helps out a lot!

I have to say that the first couple days after my FH and I got engaged were so awesome. I told my family right away...because this is his second marriage and he has a son, we waited to tell his family until 3 weeks after the initial engagement.

I have to admit that I proposed to him, so probably by the middle of the following week i had the majority of the wedding planning done? Though since then i have trimmed back on EVERYTHING that i initially had looked into.

Once we had given it a while to sink in, we sat down and decided that we would look at geeky holidays..because he is a HUGE star wars geek and we are both gamers (dungeons and dragons not so much video games). Once the date was picked we discussed a budget and possible venues that we wanted to look at once the snow melted but also that might be within our price range. We are paying for the wedding ourselves so keeping everything within budget was important to me so we aren't broke after.

After that, I would have to say we discussed guest count..because his family is rather large and i don't have much family at all. Because of the family size we decided that pot luck was the way to go rather than spending way too much on catering. Luckily, the venue we chose will support the pot luck..and we can have the wedding and reception in the same place for cheaper than any other venue around us ($200 as compared to like $1000+)

Once we talked about that things settled down a bit. I already had my bridal party picked out THE NIGHT we got engaged because i was so excited he said yes.

Now, this next part isn't something you HAVE to do..but i will admit it gave us some good ideas. My bridal party, mom, FH and I went to a wedding show. We met with a bunch of different vendors..some for photography, some for catering..kind of just a smattering of everything wedding related. Once i got all this information from them we went through it and decided who we wanted to talk to and who we too expensive that would break the budget.

We have (according to wedding wire ) 497 days until our September 2020 wedding. And to be honest most of the big things are planned out..my dress has been ordered and will be here end of next month, venue has a deposit down on it, dj is lined up and will be paid off at christmas, meeting with photographer next month, cake figured out and we are already starting to talk decorations and thank you gifts. (mind you most of this is because my current work is at a construction company and my slow season is coming to a close....so i won't have time now to look at things).

Only thing i can say is take your time and enjoy the planning (Apologies if this rambled on!)

Hi- We had our date set already but my fh loves patterns so it was always his wedding date lol. I did not mind waiting a bit over 2 years. We started off with a rough budget about how much we would and could spend and we also searched around at Venue's That was really it till 2019 came and we started booking the other larger vendors. We also attended bridal expo's super fun and ideas every where. The fashion shows were my favorite!

First off Congratulations!

Venue/Date is definitely the first thing you want to research and pick out. You can go about this two different ways. You can either have an open mind date wise so when you find that perfect venue you can pick around the available dates they have or you and your fiancé can choose a date you 100% want and then find a venue that has that date available. Depending on how long of an engagement you are planning will determine the likelihood of a certain date still being available.

Once your date is picked then you can focus on things like food and entertainment.

There's no right way! I waited almost two years to start planning. For me the first thing to figure out was budget. So when we were ready financially I started planning.

Things really started coming together when we decided where, when, and who to invite. Think of significant dates, favorite season, weather, etc. Will it be a destination or at home? Who will you surround yourself with? Do you want something small and intimate, or do you want everyone there, maybe something in the middle?

That part of planning was so agonizing for me! Such big decisions. Making those decisions allowed me to start looking at venues, book one, and set a date! After that I got an officiant, food, photographer, and flowers. Then the little details, dress, invites and decor and such. It's been sooooo stressful but pretty fun.

Good luck!

View Quoted Comment No please! Ramble away!! I love that everything is step by step. I as well already had a lot of decorations and what I wanted planned out just for fun but then the actual engagement happened and I completely zoned out from happiness 😂. I love that you got all the big stuff done and out the way!! Thank you so much for this. Congratulations and I hope you big day is galactastical!( I tried to be Star Wars nerdy, idk)

View Quoted Comment I think it’s probably in my best interest to look at wedding expos as well! I find that seems to help a lot! Hope you day is amazing! Thank you!

View Quoted Comment Thank you so much! It seems like finding the venue and such is the beginning to the planning for a lot of others as well. Thank you for this!

Congratulations! My FH proposed the night before we embarked on a 10 day trip so we were able to enjoy our time together without anyone asking a million questions. We were engaged October 25, 2018 and booked our date December 1, 2018. We took our time and considered a possible guest list and budget before making any decisions. From there we took things one step at a time: STDs, wedding party, décor, flowers, cake, rentals, etc.

First things first- Come up with a budget... Come up with a date! Once those two things are clear, the next step is really up to you. After I came up with these two things I immediately started making a guest list (we changed it soooo many times so I am glad i started early). Then I made an appointment to go look for a dress, started looking for a venue, photographer, MUA, etc... Everything will fall into place.